Today’s quick review: My Neighbor Totoro. Satsuki and Mei are two young girls who move to the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. As they explore their new home, they discover a variety of nature spirits living in the world around them. Among these is Totoro, a good-natured, catlike spirit who befriends the girls.
My Neighbor Totoro is an animated fantasy film from director Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. The film is short on plot but rich in atmosphere and creativity. The antics of Totoro and his friends are a delight to watch, and the animation shows Miyazaki’s signature attention to detail. The tone is one of childlike exploration: Satsuki, the older of the two, looks after her younger sister as they roam around the fields and forests of their new home.
Totoro and the other spirits are strange but never frightening. Unlike Spirited Away or other Miyazki films, there is no undercurrent of danger, just a world of wonder hidden away from adult eyes. As such, My Neighbor Totoro is an innocent, family-friendly film with very little conflict. It misses out on the richer stories and themes of other Miyazaki films, but in exchange, it maintains an unsullied tone.
Give it a watch if you are looking for a light and beautiful way to spend an hour and a half. The title character is iconic, and the film has a charm that makes it worth seeing at some point. Just be aware that the tone is wholly childlike and the plot is almost nonexistent. Skip it if you are looking for a film with more substance.
8.2 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 7.5 for gorgeous animation with minimal plot.